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    	I usually don't write in this notes file (although I do read it
    often) however, your experience has reminded me of a similar
    experience.
    	When I was three years old I had a swimming "incident". I had
    played with a pool toy, gotten it tied around my feet and because I
    didn't weigh much, the toy kept bringing my feet to the surface. After
    a desperate struggle (I remember all of this well) I tired and slipped
    out of the toy to the bottom of the pool.
    	I DISTINCTLY remember my mother looking up, gasping, throwing down
    her magazine and running down the steps to dive in to get me. The
    odd thing about my memory is that in review the angle that I had was
    from above the pool, looking down onto it. My mother claims that this
    is impossible because she found me face down in the pool.
    	No one talked about this for years because my mother felt guilty
    that she wasn't watching more closely and they figured that I would
    just forget that it happened.
    	As I got older and started reading things, I am convinced that I
    was out of my body (try and explain that to anyone and see if they
    don't make faces). I did not see the "traditional white light" but I
    never felt fear (I was a pretty fearless kid to begin with) it was all
    very calm. I think that this experience, even from a very young age,
    forged my attitude that I am here for a reason and that there is a
    purpose and a reason for everything (a pretty unusual set of beliefs
    for a youngster to hold).
    	Anyway, after this event, I had many, many dreams where I thought I
    was able to breath under-water. Some of the dreams were so vivid and
    convincing that I wanted to go out to the family pool and try it. I
    still get those dreams, but now they are rare.
    	I see the dreams as my mind trying to cope with a traumatic
    situation, the dreams were not scary and I never felt uncomfortable or
    afraid. I think that it was merely the logical trying to process the
    ilogical or unfamiliar.
    			Wendy
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|  | 
    
	
	About a year or so ago, I had two dreams in which I died.  I had
	never dreamed of death before that and haven't since.  
	In the first dream, I died along with 3 friends and vividly 
	experienced the death and then moving on in this new realm.  The 
	death process itself was very gentle - I was out of my body very 
	quickly.  But I was very anxious and afraid and my friends kept 
	trying to keep me calm.  Then I remember going back to my house and 
	Mike (my partner) was there and he was crying for me.  I kept trying 
	to calm him down and let him know I was there but he couldn't feel
	my presence.  It was one of the most frustrating and sad experiences
	I've ever had.  I woke up at that point.
	In the second dream, I again experienced death as very gentle and
	found myself walking around the death scene but this time much more
	aware of what had happened and I was much calmer.
	I found these dreams to have great significance in my work as a
	medium, in that they allowed me to have a direct experience of what
	it is like for some people to die and have a strong desire to 
	contact their loved ones who are still in the body.  I can now
	much more relate to their current state, and I much more appreciate
	the healing that can take place by my being the intermediary of
	the communication process.
	Another interesting aspect to all of this is that at the time of
	the dreams I was experiencing what is called in astrological terms
	transiting Pluto squaring my natal Pluto.  Pluto transits most often
	bring up issues of "death and rebirth" on some level.
	Carole
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|  | re .2
Carol, many people think that the reason why I am able to do the work I do is
because of the near-death experience I had when I was 10.  I don't think it
explains *why*, but I do believe, as you do, that it certainly aids in
understanding and being able to help.
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|  | Re: .2, .3
I had an experience concerning the death of my boyfriend in college that
definitely seemed to heighten my psychic abilities.  Here's my story
(the short version 8^).
When I was a child, I did show some signs of being psychic (answering 
questions before they were asked, knowing the phone was going to ring and who 
it was, psychically communicating with my brother, and a general "knowing of 
things" with no explanation of how I knew...).  I had dismissed much of this
by the time I had entered college because I was going to be a physicist, and I 
felt at the time that there was no room to believe in this psychic-stuff.
In college, I was at a party with my boyfriend, Bill.  A friend of ours needed 
a ride home, and I had met Bill at the college so I had my own car, so Bill
offered to drive her home.  I left the party about a half hour later.  This
was about 4:30am.  I was waiting at a red light when all of a sudden I couldn't
see anything in front of me.  Then I saw a scene of Bill's car flipping over
several times and resting up against the wall of an overpass.  In the scene
I saw him being decapitated.  Needless to say, I totally freaked out.  I 
managed to drive home, screaming and crying hysterically all the way.  When I
got home, I told my mother that I thought something awful had happened to
Bill.  My mother calmed me down, telling me that it was all nonsense, and 
nothing had happened.  My mother convinced me that it was just my imagination
flaring up, and to dismiss it totally.
I found out the next day that Bill had fallen asleep at the wheel, and his
car flipped over and was up against the wall of the overpass.  I then later
talked to a friend of his who was on the local police force, and I asked him
if Bill had been decapitated.  This friend looked at me strangely, started
crying, and confirmed it, and asked me how I knew.
Shortly after this had happened, I had been visited by Bill several times.
I had a heightened sense of awareness which was freaking my friends out a bit.
I started doing a lot of research on death, mediumship, and anything to do
with the paranormal.
Eventually I went to a service at the Aquarian Foundation in New York City.
I had a billett done in which Bill came through a medium.  Some very
evidential things came through, and I later joined the Foundation.
Bill's death totally transformed my life.  A lot of wonderful things have
happened to me due to the understanding that I have of life & death, which
I'm convince would not have happened, or would have happened much later in
my life.  Bill's death made me confront my own eventual death, which I no
longer fear.
Linda
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|  |     re .0
    
    It could be everything you mention. But the way you describe your
    dreams it appears to me more than just coping. What I mean is that
    your experience resembles very much as really going out of your
    body. Your former experience just made it easier for you.
    I believe that everyone has these experiences. Some people have
    it when they are awake, aware that they leave their physical body.
    Others only have these experiences when they sleep. The brain has
    during sleep more time to develop other activities than just the
    physics. Explaining or "strange" dreams are the result.
    Your dreams are partly reliving what happened then and partly new
    experiences. Don't get frightened of them but try to explore them.
    They give you a lot of information about yourself.
    Death dreams can be explained in many ways. It could be the fear
    for death, and as you thought before being a coping mechanism of
    the mind. If they are a warning for death you actually see what
    happens ( in .4 (?) you see an example).
    I wouldn't mind to much if I were you, just try to find the message
    of your own mind. There are a lot of people who actually can see
    or dream which people die in their environment ; I can tell you,
    that is frightened !
    Next to that try to leave your body when you are awake ; lie down
    on a bank or bed and think you can do it. If it works you will find
    out how great that can be !
    
    Enjoy it ! John  ^O^
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